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The Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona last week found an industry that has matured and is struggling to offer innovations as before to an audience that had become used to constantly seeing rabbits with touch screens pulled from hats. The biggest surprise wasn’t a new smartphone with technology we hadn’t heard of, but the hot weather, instead of the rain that usually falls on this exhibition.
Almost all the mobile industry heads come to the Mobile World Congress. Mobile phone makers, such as Samsung Semiconductor and Motorola Mobility, decided not to hold press conferences to avoid sharing the unveiling of their flagship products with other companies. Manufacturers are planning to launch their smartphones closer to the launch of iPhone 5, in order to precede Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and offer a state-of-the-art product that will tempt buyers before the iPhone 5 arrives and wins all the sales.
Such a situation, in which the manufacturers keep their cards close to their chests, and do not reveal them at the Mobile World Congress, could cause it to become less relevant in the coming years, if the technology giants do not consider it as the industry's central global event.
New models
Nokia: A camera that's mostly a gimmick
Lumia 610: Nokia Corporation (NYSE; LSE; HEX: NOK), which is trying to push its collaboration with Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) on mobile phones with the Windows Phone operating system, unveiled a new mid-priced model, the Lumia 610, which has a 3.7-inch screen, a processor with a modest speed of 800 megahertz, and a camera with a 5-megapixel sensor.
PureView 808: Nokia also launched the PureView 808, which uses the failed Symbian operating system. Nokia will try to promote this smartphone with a huge 41-megapixel sensor camera, but this is mainly a gimmick, and it is not clear how it will help the private user.
Samsung: Touch tablets
Galaxy Note: Samsung tried promote its flagship product, the Galaxy Note, at the Mobile World Congress. The Galaxy Note is already available in Israel. The company also launched the Galaxy Note tablet, which has a large 10.1-inch screen on which handwritten notes can written with a touch pen.
Beam: For the umpteenth time, at the Mobile World Congress, Samsung announced its new device, Beam, which includes technology for showing movies and pictures on walls. The idea sounds great, but the company has not been able to push the product for years.
Huawei: Thin and Chinese
China's Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., which is less well known in the Israeli market, mainly targets consumers with basic smartphones. The company now wants to challenge big smartphone makes, such as Apple, Samsung, and Motorola.
Ascend PIS: Huawei unveiled one of the thinnest devices on the market, the Ascend PIS, with a thickness of 6.7 millimeters. For the sake of comparison, Motorola's thin Razr, which has been available in Israel for some time, is 7.1 millimeters thick. In contrast to many other Huawei models, the Ascent PIS does not feel like a cheap product, and it has a good quality 4.3-inch screen that is supposed to be scratch proof.
Panasonic: The Japanese are back
Eluga: Until now, Japan's Panasonic Corporation (TSE: 6572) has not focused on the American and European smartphone markets. Its Eluga thin smartphone is 7.8 millimeters thick. Despite its thinness and even though it does not really look like a protected phone, it is water resistant, has a 4.3-inch screen, and uses the Google Android operating system.
Technology innovations:
Quad cores for those who understand
The Mobile World Congress mainly proved that it hard to bring really exciting innovations to today's market. Manufacturers were busy unveiling smartphones with quad-core processors instead of dual cores. This does not mean much to most people.
Will touch pens make a comeback?
The touch pen, a star of the 1990s at Palm Pilot, stood out, and not only for the Galaxy Note. South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. (KSX: 66570) presented its Optimus Vu, which comes with a 5-inch screen and touch pen.
Content services: instead of technology
Companies with no technological innovations to unveil, tried to push content services. For example, Sony Corporation (TSE: 6758; NYSE: SMNE) explained how its movie and music content services are run on its Experia smartphones. Taiwan's HTC Corporation (TWSE: 2498) concentrated on improvements to its Sense interface.
More user-friendly models for old people
One of the steadily developing fields at the Mobile World Congress is telephones for old people. Three companies presented devices for retirees, who do not want complicated products or products not suited to their special needs.
The companies are Austria's Emporia Telecom, which specializes in simple mobile phones for adults; Alcatel Lucent SA (NYSE; Euronext: ALU), and Sweden's Doro AB (OMX: DORO), which unveiled its Android-operated PhoneEasy 740, built in a slider form with easy keys and interface with big icons.
One easy to use operating system
The Mobile World Congress also marked the emergence of a single operating system for multiple categories. At a press conference, Microsoft unveiled the beta version of the Windows 8 operating system for both tablets and PCs. Later this year, it is due to unveil the Windows Phone 8 operating system for mobile phones, which will create uniformity for consumers using Microsoft products.
Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) is doing the same. It recently unveiled its Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. At the Mobile World Congress, it was possible to see more Android 4 tablets and smartphones, giving consumers uniformity across their devices.
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